City limitsPlace boundary
Curated city comparison

NewarkJersey City

Nearby New Jersey cities with distinct acquisition cost, affordability, renter pressure, housing stock and local demand risk.

Newark, NJ city briefJersey City, NJ city brief
Newark, NJ cityscape
Jersey City, NJ cityscape
Decision memo

The trade-off before property underwriting

The interpretation uses direct city records only. County and metro averages are not substituted into this comparison.

Newark, NJ is the lower-cost acquisition screen: its Zillow city home-value index is $486,845 versus $665,140 in Jersey City, NJ. Jersey City, however, pairs its higher entry point with $3,182 monthly Zillow rent and 5.74% gross yield, compared with $2,130 and 5.25% in Newark. That gives Jersey City the stronger preliminary cash-flow fit before expenses, while Newark better fits a capital-constrained search.

Renter pressure is mixed. Newark has a 75.60% renter share and 6.72% vacancy, versus Jersey City’s 72.08% and 7.40%. Yet Newark’s 57.15% rent-burden rate signals less tenant financial headroom than Jersey City’s 44.41%. Property underwriting should therefore test collections, concessions, turnover and achievable unit rent rather than treating renter prevalence alone as demand.

Housing-stock objectives also split. Newark has a 23.18% single-family share, supporting searches for smaller-scale assets; Jersey City has a 38.39% large-multifamily share, better matching apartment-oriented sourcing. Local-demand evidence favors Jersey City: population change across overlapping ACS vintages was 12.27%, against 10.36% in Newark, while unemployment was 5.54% versus 11.56%. Next, verify each candidate’s legal unit count, condition, taxes, insurance, utility responsibility, occupied rents and neighborhood-level vacancy.

Direct city matrix

The same definition on both sides

“n/a” remains missing. Zillow indexes and ACS survey measures stay visibly separate.

Decision evidenceNewark, NJJersey City, NJ
Typical home valueZillow ZHVI · city$486,845$665,140
Observed market rentZillow ZORI · city$2,130$3,182
Gross yieldZORI × 12 ÷ ZHVI · before costs5.2%5.7%
Price to household incomeZillow value ÷ ACS income9.35x6.81x
Annual rent to incomeZillow rent × 12 ÷ ACS income49.1%39.1%
Rent burdenACS renter households paying 30%+57.1%44.4%
Renter shareACS occupied housing75.6%72.1%
Vacancy rateACS all housing units6.7%7.4%
Population changebetween ACS vintages · not annualized▲ 10.4%▲ 12.3%
UnemploymentACS civilian labor force11.6%5.5%
Entry and income screen

Price, rent and yield do not tell the same story

Bars begin at zero within each measure. Gross yield remains a before-cost screen.

NewarkJersey CityTypical home valueZillow ZHVI · city$487k$665kObserved market rentZillow ZORI · monthly city index$2k$3kGross yieldZORI × 12 ÷ ZHVI · before costs5.2%5.7%
Zillow city ZHVI and ZORI · 2026-06 / 2026-06
Price and rent history

Two city paths, each rebased to 100

Each panel keeps price and rent in its own city; no level is borrowed across geographies.

Five-year path

Price and rent, rebased to 100

ZHVI +22.9%ZORI +35.1%
13511595202120222023202420252026
Each series starts at 100 so their direction can be compared without pretending that a home value and a monthly rent share the same unit.
Five-year path

Price and rent, rebased to 100

ZHVI +14.1%ZORI +39.5%
13911795202120222023202420252026
Each series starts at 100 so their direction can be compared without pretending that a home value and a monthly rent share the same unit.
Fit by objective

There is no universal city winner

Five city questions remain separate so a yield lead cannot erase affordability or demand risk.

01
Cash-flow screenJersey City

Jersey City, NJ better fits the preliminary cash-flow objective, with a 5.74% gross yield versus 5.25% in Newark, NJ. Its Zillow rent index is also $3,182 monthly, compared with $2,130. This is only a top-line screen: verify in-place leases, market-rent support, vacancy, concessions, taxes, insurance, utilities, repairs and management for each property before comparing net operating performance.

02
Entry affordabilityNewark

Newark, NJ better fits entry affordability because its Zillow city home-value index is $486,845, below Jersey City, NJ at $665,140. Newark’s buyer affordability is weaker relative to local income, however: price-to-income is 9.35 versus 6.81 in Jersey City. Underwriting should distinguish lower required acquisition capital from resident purchasing power, then check the actual asking price, financing terms, tax assessment and immediate capital needs.

03
Renter pressureDepends on the property

Newark, NJ shows stronger occupancy-side pressure with a 75.60% renter share and 6.72% vacancy, compared with 72.08% and 7.40% in Jersey City, NJ. But Newark’s 57.15% rent-burden rate exceeds Jersey City’s 44.41%, indicating greater affordability strain. The fit depends on strategy: verify payment history and turnover for yield-focused Newark assets, and concessions plus competing supply for Jersey City properties.

04
Housing stockDepends on the property

The housing-stock fit depends on target asset type. Newark, NJ has a 23.18% single-family share versus 14.41% in Jersey City, NJ, favoring Newark for smaller-scale or house-based searches. Jersey City has a 38.39% large-multifamily share compared with Newark’s 21.60%, favoring apartment-oriented sourcing. For either city, confirm legal unit count, zoning, certificates, deferred maintenance and building systems at the property level.

05
Local demand riskJersey City

Jersey City, NJ better fits local-demand resilience. Population change across overlapping ACS vintages was 12.27%, versus 10.36% in Newark, NJ; these changes are not annualized. Jersey City also reports 5.54% unemployment and 15.63% poverty, compared with Newark’s 11.56% and 23.44%. Validate whether the specific neighborhood shares this citywide profile by checking leasing velocity, tenant income documentation, employer exposure and recent comparable rentals.

Household pressure

Acquisition and renter affordability

NewarkJersey CityPrice to incomeZillow value ÷ ACS household income9.4x6.8xRent to incomeAnnual Zillow rent ÷ ACS household income49.1%39.1%Rent-burdened householdsACS renters paying 30% or more57.1%44.4%
Zillow city indexes divided by direct ACS city household measures.
Housing system

Tenure, vacancy and structure

NewarkJersey CityRenter shareACS occupied housing75.6%72.1%Vacancy rateACS all housing units6.7%7.4%Single-family stockACS one-unit structures23.2%14.4%Large multifamily stockACS structures with 20+ units21.6%38.4%
ACS citywide housing characteristics; not rentable inventory or lease-up speed.
Underwriting boundary

What this city comparison cannot decide

City evidence narrows a search; it does not appraise, inspect or finance a property.

  1. 01

    Gross yield is before vacancy, management, repairs, taxes, insurance, utilities, financing and capital work. A property’s expense load or deferred maintenance could reverse the city-level cash-flow ranking.

  2. 02

    Zillow indexes describe city-level market pricing and rents, while ACS measures surveyed housing and households. ACS median rent and home value are not competing appraisals and should not be blended with Zillow figures.

  3. 03

    Population change uses overlapping ACS vintages and is not annualized. Citywide unemployment, poverty, vacancy and housing-stock measures can conceal substantial neighborhood and property differences, so block-level leasing and physical diligence remain necessary.

Figure-level provenance

The direct sources behind both records

Release period and retrieval date remain separate. Open either city brief for its complete geography ledger.

Census ACS 5-year — city population, households and housingACS 2024 5-yearPulled 2026-07-29Census ACS 5-year — cities and communitiesACS 2024 5-yearPulled 2026-07-30Zillow ZHVI — city home valueszillow_zhvi_city.csvPulled 2026-07-29Zillow ZORI — city market rentszillow_zori_city.csvPulled 2026-07-29
Newark, NJOpen the complete city brief310,178 residents in the current ACS recordJersey City, NJOpen the complete city brief294,078 residents in the current ACS recordProperty testStress-test the same assumptionsReplace city averages with an actual deal